Raising taxes would be "political suicide" for Prime Minister Tony Abbott says key crossbench Senator Glenn Lazarus who doubts the government is genuine about its threat if key budget measures aren't passed.

And fellow crossbencher Senator Nick Xenophon says the threat is "incredibly reckless and irresponsible" and has dared the government to raise taxes on superannuation if it is genuine about its threat, while Labor has labelled the tactic as tantamount to "extortion".

Finance Minister Mathias Cormann said on Sunday the "the only alternative to balance the books is to increase taxes" and Education Minister Christopher Pyne said the government would have to examine the option of cutting research funding if Parliament rejects his proposal to deregulate the university sector.

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Palmer United Senator Glenn Lazarus said on Monday that the tactic would sound a death knell for the Coalition if followed through.

"I think it would be political suicide for the Abbott government if they did try and introduce more taxes to the Australian public, I can't see that happening," he told Fairfax Radio in Brisbane.

He said PUP would reject measures such as the proposed $7 fee for doctors' visits because they unfairly hit the poor.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said on Monday it was time for the government to dump its budget.

"We've seen in recent days the government move from insulting the Australian people telling them they just don't understand the unfair budget when in fact they do," Mr Shorten told reporters.

"The government's moved from insulting the people of Australia to threatening the people of Australia."

Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce said on Monday that he "fully understands" voters' concerns but likened the budgetary situation to a "financial melanoma", which "will kill you" if left unaddressed.

"In five, 10, 15 years' time, the chickens will come home to roost. We will be closing down hospitals, we won't have an ABC, we won't be able to defend ourselves because we will have run out of money," he said.

He said the government had to fix the budget and fix it early.

"We either accept that we've got a debt problem . . . or we basically say no, this is only a small melanoma on our arm and if we just wait long enough it will go away," he said. "No, it's a financial melanoma, it will kill you."

But Senator Lazarus said the government's gloomy rhetoric does not match reality.

"We hear a lot of negative speak from the Government about the situation we're in I don't think it's as bad as what they're saying," he said.

Senator Xenophon on Monday described the government's budget negotiation efforts as "a little like groundhog day". He added that would not support Mr Pyne's "incredibly radical" proposal because it would be a "seismic shift" in the way education is run in Australia, which he complained "wasn't even hinted at" before the last election.

And he said threatening to cut research would lead to the "wholesale dumbing down of the tertiary education sector", which would lead to a "significant decline" in Australian universities' ability to lure overseas researchers.

He advised the government to abandon it's proposed $5.5 billion "extravagant indulgence" of a paid parental leave scheme and urged Treasurer Joe Hockey to take a leaf out of his Liberal predecessor Peter Costello's book and slug wealthy superannuants instead.

"I think the government could take a leaf out of Peter Costello's book in his first budget, he looked very closely at the issue of superannuation at the top end, he had a temporary surcharge, maybe we should look at something like that before there's this reckless talk about slashing research funding," he said.

Mr Costello has since described the superannuation surcharge as "one of the worst decisions" he made as Treasurer.

He said on Monday that "if you're earning more than $150,000 a year you're already paying somewhere in the order of $40-$50,000 in tax and we're putting an additional tax on top of that, so high income earners are already paying a substantial amount of tax".

"People who are on very low incomes don't pay any net tax when you take into account the benefits they are paid, so we are committed to a progressive tax and welfare system," he told reporters in Canberra.

Parliament returns this week after a five-week break, in which Mr Hockey has toured the country to meet crossbench Senators seeking their support for the budget.

Labor's finance spokesman Tony Burke said on Monday the government's threats were "more about extortion than it is about governing".

"Mathias Cormann has been their most disciplined performer and he wouldn't say this unless Tony Abbott seriously had plans to introduce a raft of new taxes," he told ABC radio.

"This bizarre game where they're saying if you don't vote for an unfair budget, we'll come up with something even more unfair," he said.

249 comments

Abbott's threats in person and via his drones like Cormann are akin to somebody holding a gun to their own head and shouting "Stop or I'll shoot".Go ahead Tony,make our day.

Commenter

DSteel

Location

Sydney

Date and time

August 25, 2014, 11:14AM

A nasty, vindictive bully won't change its spot. Using others to deliver his threats will not work.

Voters have been deceived comprehensively at election by Tony Abbott's high moral principles.

Time to make the bully learn. I suggest.

Commenter

BA

Date and time

August 25, 2014, 11:23AM

Senator Xenophon's "groundhog' day is becoming more like the film "Dog Day Afternoon" as Abbott and Hockey's heist on long held team Australia values goes sour. But they won't find an applauding populace, nor are their bungling and threats funny.

Commenter

Diana

Date and time

August 25, 2014, 11:39AM

yeah....obviously tony hasn't heard the old saying....'Milk the cow, but don't pull off the udder'!

Commenter

trev

Date and time

August 25, 2014, 11:39AM

@DSteel:This government should be put on suicide watch as it is imminent danger of wilful self destruction. They express different views on different days ranging from the conciliatory to the confrontational. Their irrationality it seems knows no bounds and they are coming across as headless chicken in their death throes.

Commenter

JohnC

Location

Gosford NSW

Date and time

August 25, 2014, 11:42AM

Tony Liar wont do it.This is a government of bullies. I wonder if this is how they brought up their kids. "do this or else I'll punish you" and 'it's all your mother's fault', 'Toys are bad, games are for bludgers and don't pretend you are sick, I know you can do your homework'

Commenter

Seer

Date and time

August 25, 2014, 11:44AM

The 'Real Tony' and the motivations of the LNP are ever clearer to all, to those who were duped by either or both before the last election please, please think again before casting your next vote.

Liars all of them.

Commenter

Harlequin

Date and time

August 25, 2014, 11:46AM

No!! Wait!! Stop there !!! I think he's just crazy enough to do it!! He'll shoot him!!! he's already shot himself in both feet several times ..

Commenter

rod steiger

Location

toukley

Date and time

August 25, 2014, 12:03PM

Just do it, Tony. Raise taxes. and make sure everyone knows that Labor and the Greens are the reason why.

Commenter

adrian

Date and time

August 25, 2014, 12:23PM

They have lied their way into govt with the sole purpose of:1. redistributing income from the poor to the rich through the budget with the front of 'budget emergency/carbon tax scare'2. demolishing any science that would threaten high income earners precious money ie mining tax, carbon tax3. entrenching their own entitlements and those of their backers eg Murdoch4. eliminating all opposition eg Rinehart buy Fairfax and demolish the ABC and SBS.5. establishing propaganda to replace the truth in all of the above to entrench their election prospects in future.